Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7030162.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Fall_Out_Boy, My_Chemical_Romance, Panic!_at_the_Disco, Halsey_
      (Musician), Mindless_Self_Indulgence, PVRIS_(Band), Paramore
  Relationship:
      Frank_Iero/Gerard_Way, Mikey_Way/Pete_Wentz, Ryan_Ross/Brendon_Urie
  Character:
      Gerard_Way, Frank_Iero, Mikey_Way, Pete_Wentz, Ryan_Ross, Brendon_Urie,
      Patrick_Stump, Joe_Trohman, Andy_Hurley, Lindsey_Ballato, Lynn_Gunn,
      Original_Female_Character(s), Hayley_Williams, Dallon_Weekes, Ray_Toro, i
      think_thats_all_the_characters_fuck_me_if_i_know
  Additional Tags:
      Vampire_Gerard_Way, Alternate_Universe_-_Werewolf, Alternate_Universe_-
      Vampire, Vampire_Hunters, Character_Turned_Into_Vampire, Mention_of_dead
      parents, Murder, mention_of_vladimir_putin, Frank_Is_A_Little_Shit, why
      do_i_feel_the_need_to_fuck_ashley_up, trigger_warning:_awful_puns,
      basically_emo_gay_twilight_actually_kill_me, Shitty_Writing
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-05-30 Updated: 2016-11-28 Chapters: 6/? Words: 18068
****** Nuit De La Lune ******
by mikeyrevengeway
Summary
     Fire.
     That was all Frank could remember of his parents.
     The smell of smoke and the darkness that followed, that was all he
     could remember from the old house, and the firetruck's sirens, the
     last look at the burned shell of his home, and the silver ring found
     in the ashes he had worn since he was six.
     He now lives in a children's home, well, his fifth children's home,
     because he kept getting into fights and having to be moved to protect
     the others.
     And he still kept being rebellious, sneaking out at night because the
     new home is just the same as the others. Boring kids, annoying
     adults, just not Frank's style. But the town was different; darker,
     like something was lurking in the alleyways and shadows.
     He wasn't that far off in his assumption.
     He soon comes to discover the truth about how his parents died, and
     the real darkness in the alleyways of the town.
***** Ah Yes Emotional Trauma That's A Great Way To Start Off The Book *****
Frank already hated the new home.
It was smaller than the last one, and there were less kids, sure; but the kids
were horribly noisy, and the women who ran the new home were barely tolerable.
Alyssa was tall and gave Frank a look that old teachers usually gave him when
he walked into their classrooms with his piercings and skinny jeans and
rebellious attitude. Frank immediately didn't like her, despite how cool her
blue hair looked.
Jen was more tolerable, she had complimented his Black Flag shirt when he was
brought in with his things and had a septum piercing so Frank could write her
off as the cooler and more likable of the two.
In all honesty, Frank couldn't see many problems with the home, but he still
couldn't stand it, because it was his fifth home and every home was always
worse than the last.
The only solace he could find in this new hell was his headphones and the fact
that he had snagged a top bunk in the boy's room.
There were a few kids that tried to introduce themselves, but Frank needed at
least eight days or more (usually) to let any bit of his pretentious attitude
aside to allow someone to talk to him. And with each word the kids said, he
just turned up his music louder and pretended to be mute so that they would
leave him alone.
Sure, it was dick-ish, but Frank didn't want to start a fight his first day,
which had happened before: jackass kid stole his ring, and he was out of the
home before he had even been there forty-eight hours.
His ring was all he had left of his parents, and it was the only thing that he
still had from the old house.
There was a vague voice calling the kids to dinner, and Frank's mind said no,
you'll stay here and be an angsty bitch, but his stomach had different plans.
So he paused his iPod, which wasn't technically even his, as he had stolen it
from a girl from his last home with good music taste. She hadn't noticed, as
she was too distracted with the little bags of cocaine she had thought nobody
knew about.
He made his way down from the bunk, following the other kids to the dining
room, and taking a seat next to a little girl with big blue eyes and long
Auburn hair pulled into a fancy braid. Dinner was pasta, and with Frank being
the Italian asshole he was, he was pretty content with the choice.
The room was silent as everyone ate, everyone eating as though they hadn't seen
food in weeks. There were eleven people in total at the table, five girls and
four boys with Frank for the kids, with Jen and Alyssa at each end of the table
making it eleven. Once everyone had finished, Jen tapped her fork against her
glass, catching the attention of the kids at the table.
"Guys, we've got a new kid here," She gestured to Frank. "this is Frank,
everyone be nice to him while he's here. Frank, if you could introduce yourself
to the kids?" She gave him a smile and Frank decided that he might as well try
not to be an arrogant bastard at the table on his first day.
"I, uh, my name is Frank Iero. I'm sixteen, I like music, and, uh, I'm not very
interesting." There was a kid across the table with big lips and a forehead to
match who snickered a little at that, but it seemed kind-hearted, so Frank let
it slide.
"What kind of music do you listen to?" The little girl next to him asked, eyes
wide and curious.
"I like Black Flag, Misfits, uh, punky stuff." He offered the girl a half
smile, which gained a huge grin from her.
"Black Flag? You're racist." A boy who looked to be the most jackassy kid in
the fifth grade said, making Frank bite his tongue to refrain from saying, "and
you're a bitch." in response.
"Alex, stop; it's a band. I play it sometimes during leisure." Jen said, eyeing
the kid with a stern look that was enough to shut him up.
"Okay guys, put away your dishes and you have leisure until eight thirty. Older
kids, you have until nine thirty." Jen said, the kids clearing the plates
faster than Frank had seen in any other home.
-
Leisure was just all the kids going into the basement, which was filled with
toys for the younger kids, video games, and chairs where Frank could listen to
music and watch the dynamic of the kids.
He had learned in his ten years of being passed from home to home that you had
to make alliances quickly, and to never get too close to anyone, because you
would eventually leave, and it would be hell if you got attached. You also had
to figure out who the alpha was in the homes, so then you could make sure to
always stay on their good side so they wouldn't send anyone coming after you in
the night.
Frank didn't do much during leisure, just sat in the corner with his eyes
closed listening to music. That was, until the little girl who he had sat next
to you during dinner came up to him and tapped on his knee.
"Whatcha listenin' to?" She asked, looking at Frank with wide eyes.
He pulled a headphone out and help it up to her ear, her face lighting up as
soon as she heard the song.
"I know this song! Jenny's played it before!" She hummed along to the song for
a bit, which was possibly the cutest thing Frank had ever seen a kid do at a
home, which made his heart warm little and cause him to pause his music so he
could speak with this lovely little girl.
"What's your name?" He asked, taking his headphones and putting them on the
ground next to him.
"Ava Rae." She beamed at her proclamation, which was destroying Frank right
now, goddamn kids for being so cute.
"How old are you?" Frank asked, unable to keep a smile off his face.
"I'm seven and a half!" And Frank literally melted right then because this kid
was so cute and ruining his motto about going to a new home.
He chatted with Ava for a little while longer, until Jen called everyone under
thirteen upstairs to go to bed.
The remainder of the kids were Frank, the boy with the big lips, and a girl
with black hair cut to her shoulders. He closed his eyes and just listened to
his music until he felt a tap his head and Jen nodded her head in the direction
of the stairs.
-
Frank settled himself into his bunk still playing his music. He tossed and
turned, unable to fall asleep. The first night at a new home was always the
worst, it was impossible for Frank to fall asleep.
He sat up in his bunk, just barely scraping his head on the ceiling as he
pushed the covers off himself. Her looked around the room, the three other boys
sleeping peacefully, the one underneath him with the big forehead snoring
softly. Frank noticed the window, just slightly ajar to let in the cool summer
breeze. There was a ledge that led to the roof from the window, just large
enough for Frank to sit on.
Fuck it, Frank thought, silently climbing down from his bunk and opening the
window for him to slide out; thankfully the hinges didn't creak.
Frank sat on the roof, looking out at the little road that led into town, and
the dark forest across the street. Frank was wary of the darkness of the town,
the tall trees and misty air that gave off the same chilling vibe that horror
movies did. He had gotten the same chill when he was driving into the town with
the social worker, as he had noticed the little red crosses on each building in
town, and the glances between some of the older townsfolk that read to him as
something not to be trusted.
And Frank, being the impulsive asshole that he was, decided to take matters
into his own hands to investigate the new town, in the manner of climbing down
the side of the house with assistance from the drain pipe.
His feet hit the ground with a soft crunch, and he began walking down the
sidewalk towards the town, still in his pajama pants and black flag shirt.
The air seemed the get colder and darker as Frank got closer to the center of
town, and he got chills as he walked.
He thought he heard something in the alleyway ahead, but dismissed it as a
stray cat or bird or something along those lines. But as he approached, the
noises got louder and sounded of struggle, a yelp of pain being let out from
someone.
Frank decided if someone was being mugged the least he could do would be to
help them out, and he walked to the entrance of the alleyway, expecting to see
a stereotypical guy in a ski mask shaking a guy in a button-up from money. But
that wasn't exactly what he got.
There were two men in the alleyway, one tall and lanky, dressed in all black
with dark hair and skin so pale it was almost translucent. The other man looked
just like any old middle-aged guy walking around town, aside from the terrified
expression in his face. The shorter man was being pinned against the wall by
the pale one, struggling against his grip. The taller man chuckled darkly
before leaning down quickly and attaching his mouth to the other man's neck
where Frank knew there was a critical vein.
The man let out another shout of pain, but soon quieted, his eyes rolling back
into his head and stopping his struggle. His mouth hung open and his head
lolled to the side, his skin turning paler with each passing moment as the
taller man sucked at his neck.
Frank didn't know long the was stood there watching the epidemic, but as the
man's body went limp and pale until he looked like a ghost. The taller man let
go of his shoulders and pulled away from the corpse's neck, his mouth and chin
covered in what must've been blood.
Realization hit Frank like a train, and he felt glued to the ground as his
heartbeat accelerated and the tall...thing dropped the now lifeless body to the
ground, the corpse drained completely of blood and color.
The thing seemed to notice Frank's prescience and turned to him, licking the
crimson stain off it's lips before flashing Frank a terrifying smile.
Frank noticed it's elongated incisors right away.
The thing launched itself at Frank fast, impossibly fast, pinning him against
the wall with a disgusting grin and an iron grip.
"Well, well, well." It spoke coolly, sending a shudder down Frank spine.
"You're out a little bit past your bedtime, aren't you?"
Frank felt on the verge of passing out. The thing's breath stunk of blood, it's
eyes were hungry and dangerous. It was horrifying to see, and despite all the
fights he's been in, and all the mean kids he's faced, nothing could prepare
him for a monster straight from a horror movie.
"You'll just be a little snack, a little drink to refresh me. But you'll taste
excellent with your youth, I'm tired of middle aged blood." The thing opened
it's mouth and leaned down to the same vein on Frank's neck it had sunk it's
teeth into on the other man. It sniffed, and Frank prepared himself for his
demise, closing his eyes and going limp, his last image would be it's incisors
growing to drain his blood.
But the thing retched and threw Frank to the ground sideways, and he landed on
top of the drained corpse.
"Venatorum est sanguis!" It screeched, staring at Frank in disgust. It
shuddered once before jumping onto the building Frank had just previously been
shoved against, leaving Frank in the alleyway on top of the body that was
colder than he had expected.
He quickly regained his ability to stand, jumping to his feet and looked back
at the body with his heart racing.
There were two puncture wounds in the man's neck, perfectly circular and clean.
Frank tried to wrap his head around what he had just seen.
He had just witnessed a murder. A murder. Not to mention that the murder was
something Frank reckoned to be nothing less than a blood-sucking demon he had
never thought to exist until now. It was all a little much, and Frank had one
last look at the body before taking off out of the alley and down the road to
the home.
He didn't know what the thing, the vampire, had said, but it wasn't in any
language Frank recognized.
He climbed back up the drain pipe and back into the window, sitting in the
windowsill to catch his breath.
His mind was racing, trying to make up some reasonable explanation for what he
had seen, and must've been muttering under his breath, because the boy with the
big forehead had woken up and whispered to him, "what's wrong man?"
Frank looked at him, shuddering and feeling cold despite the warmth of the
room. The boy sat up and gave him a strange look before asking again:
"What's wrong?"
Frank began to shake even more, coming to the realization that he did in fact
see a vampire kill someone, and narrowly escaped the same fate somehow. The boy
seemed to notice his shaking and stood up, grabbing Frank's hands and leading
him into the bathroom.
The boy flicked the light on before speaking again.
"Dude, what happened to you?" He paused for a second. "I'm Brendon by the way."
Frank nodded to signify some gesture of hello, still shaking horribly. He
caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror: he was horribly pale and
looked as though he had just seen someone die, which pretty much for the
situation.
Brendon asked again. "Dude, you look you've just seen someone die, what
happened?" Frank looked into Brendon's eyes, hoping he would understand the
message he was sending.
Brendon's eyes widened. "You did see someone die." He sat Frank down on the
toilet lid and got a damp washcloth for Frank to put on his forehead.
He sat down on the bathtub rim across from Frank, leaning forward as he spoke.
"Tell me what happened, I promise I'll believe you." He gave Frank a gentle but
honest look.
"Alleyway. In town. There was-it was-a, a vampire." Frank sounded like an
asylum patient, no matter what Brendon had said, he knew this was far fetched.
But Brendon nodded grimly, cursing under his breath before saying anything to
Frank.
"I believe you. I've seen them too. You're not crazy, they're here in town. I'm
not the best to help you with it, but I know some people who are. We'll go
tomorrow after breakfast, okay?" Frank could hardly believe what he was
hearing. There were vampires, real life vampires, in this town he found himself
living in until he was eventually moved, and he was behind told he wasn't
crazy.
"Do other people know about them?" He asked Brendon, thinking back to the red
crosses on the buildings.
"Yes," Brendon said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "They've been around for
a long time from what I've been told, and it's mostly older people in town that
know about them. They don't come into town unless they're feeding though, which
I'm pretty sure you saw. Sorry, I'm not the best to talk about this with, I
only know a bit from what the people I've told you about told me. We should try
to sleep now, as we've got a bit of a long day ahead of us." Brendon stood up,
walking to the door before Frank stopped him.
"Brendon?" The other boy stopped and turned to Frank. "Yeah?"
"Do you know what 'venatorum est sanguis' means?" Brendon thought for a moment
before replying.
"I know it's Latin, but I don't speak it. We can ask the people I'm taking you
to, they'll be sure to know." Frank nodded and stood up, following Brendon back
to the bedroom and falling asleep with the words the vampire spoke ringing in
his head.
***** There Is A Brief Mention Of Vladimir Putin In This Chapter *****
Chapter Notes
     i actually wrote the first four chapters of this book before i made
     this account because i posted them on my wattpad, so ill just update
     those all today and update the fifth chapter when i finish it (if
     that makes any sense) enjoy!
Frank woke up with someone shaking his shoulder, which he did not appreciate in
the slightest, as he was actually someone who liked sleeping peacefully without
someone assaulting him. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to see a boy
with a big forehead looking at him from the side of the bed.
“Frank get up, it’s time for breakfast.” Brendon said and jumped off the bed he
was standing on to reach Frank’s side. Frank sat up and rubbed his eyes before
kicking his covers off and climbing down from his bunk, following Brendon into
the kitchen where a huge breakfast was being prepared.
Jen was preparing the food, standing at the stove with at least five pans on
the burners, how, Frank didn’t know. But the smell was absolutely amazing, so
Frank decided not to criticize the amount of pans on the burner this early in
the morning, especially when he started remembering what had happened last
night.
Brendon had said he knew people that could help him, which calmed Frank’s
nerves a little bit, but he was still freaked the hell out, because he saw
someone freaking die, and that was something you couldn't get over that fast
without being a sociopath or something. The other kids were milling around
sleepily, some watching the TV in the living room half-heartedly, while others
were talking with Alyssa, who looked like she needed some coffee badly.
Frank followed Brendon like a lost puppy, not knowing the routine of the home
yet to go off on his own business. Brendon relaxed into the couch and watched
the TV, managing to snag the remote from the coffee table and flicking through
channels.
He turned the news on momentarily, thumb ready to change it, but he hesitated
when he heard the story.
“There was another murder in Rosewood last night, the body of thirty-seven year
old Andrew Kelly found in an alleyway, completely drained of blood. The cause
of the-” Brendon changed the channel at this point, but the whole room had
focused on the news story for the few seconds it was on. Brendon cast a
sideways glance at Frank, who was attempting to not absolutely lose his shit at
this point.
He saw some of the younger kids give each other strange, questioning glances,
but they didn’t seem to take the story to heart, whereas Jen had almost dropped
the plate of toast she was holding when she heard the story. The TV was now
playing some kids cartoon that seemed to entrance the younger kids in the room,
until Jen called everyone to breakfast.
All the kids took their seats and started digging in almost as soon as they had
sat down, Frank doing the same. The food was delicious, and Frank had only just
realized how hungry he was.
The room was completely silent as everyone ate, and the food was gone amazingly
fast. Brendon finished shoveling the last of his eggs into his mouth before
turning to Jen.
“Jen, can I take Frank out to town today? Just wanna show him around a bit,
since he’s never been here before.” Jen looked a little hesitant to allow this,
and Frank’s heart froze in his chest as she took a breath before answering.
“Yes, but you need to be very careful. Be back before dark or you’re grounded.”
She nodded to the kids as a signal to start clearing the table, which was done
in a fast and organized manner that left Frank really impressed. Everyone went
off to get dressed and do whatever, Frank pulling on a simple black shirt when
he got back to the boy’s room. He pulled on some jeans and turned to Brendon,
who was struggling almost comically with a pair of skinny jeans.
“Having some trouble there?” Frank joked, Brendon cursing him under his breath
as he finally buttoned up the jeans.
“Christ, why do they make these so goddamned difficult to put on?” Brendon
asked Frank, who only laughed and shrugged in response.
“Thats a swear! I’ll tell Jen!” The boy whom Frank reckoned to be the most
annoying kid he’d ever met, the same one who called him racist the night
before. Brendon looked at the kid and back at Frank, rolling his eyes before
turning back to the kid in exasperation.
“Alex, if I give you five dollars, will you promise to shut the hell up?” Frank
bit back a laugh, and Alex looked absolutely scandalized by the fact that
Brendon had just said H-E-double hockey-sticks, but he nodded and Brendon threw
a five dollar bill at him without looking, and then Alex left the room, leaving
Frank and Brendon the only two people in the room.
Brendon turned back to Frank and sighed dramatically, Frank laughing along with
him. Brendon quickly turned serious, gesturing for Frank to follow him out the
door.
They walked into the kitchen-living room area, where Jen and Alyssa were
discussing something in hurried whispers, stopping when they saw the two boys.
“We’re gonna head out. We’ll be back before dark, I promise.” Brendon said,
Alyssa and Jen nodding before Brendon turned and walked to the door, Frank
right behind him.
-
They had been walking for at least fifteen minutes now, and Frank was beginning
to wonder if Brendon was actually taking him somewhere to kill him, which was
beyond crazy; Brendon was only fourteen, but still, after the shit Frank had
seen, he was pretty paranoid.
Brendon turned and started down a dirt driveway, Frank just able to make out
the figure of a large house at the end of it. He looked at Brendon, who looked
completely at ease, unlike Frank, who was sweating and tapping his fingers on
his thigh with nerves.
They reached the end of the driveway and Frank taken aback for a moment at not
only the size of the house, but the design of it.
It was an old Victorian, wooden trim painted over in a dark purple, possibly to
mask the previous darkness of the house. There were two bay windows in the
front, trim carved with intricate designs. The roof was shingled and elegant,
almost intimidating in a sense. Frank was gaping at the home, but Brendon acted
as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. Frank looked at him
questioningly, but Brendon just kept walking up the stone steps to the stained
glass-windowed doors of the house, leaving Frank to run after him.
Brendon knocked on the door, and Frank heard the sound of footsteps coming down
the hallway. A man with curly hair down to his shoulders opened the door,
wearing a grey shirt and a belt filled with silver bullets.
“Hey Bren, who’s this?” The man looked wary of Frank, and Frank could say the
same for him. A man who wore a belt filled with bullets was kind of
intimidating.
“This is Frank. He needs you guy’s help. It’s urgent.” Frank saw the look in
the man’s eyes change to something more sympathetic, with a hint of questioning
in them.
“Come inside,” The man said. “My name’s Joe. We’ll see what we can do to help
you.” He smiled at Frank and gestured for them to come inside, closing the door
behind the two boys.
“‘Trick! Andy! We’ve got company!” Joe called up the stairs, Frank noting the
surprisingly modern furniture of the house. There was a clamoring upstairs, and
two other men appeared at the top of the stairs, making their way down quickly.
One of the men Frank reckoned to be shorter than him, which was a relief, and
the other looked like he could snap Frank in half with just his fingers. The
both had the same belts on as Joe, except the taller one had them strapped
across his chest.
“Frank, these are Andy and Patrick.” Joe gestured to the men, who introduced
themselves to Frank quickly.
Joe turned back to Frank. “So, what’s the thing you need help with?” He asked,
Frank feeling his hands go clammy at the thought of the vampire’s fangs close
to his throat.
“C-can I sit down? It’s kind of a lot for me to process.” Joe gave a quick look
of worry to Patrick and Andy, before nodding and leading the group into the
half modern-half victorian living room.
Frank and Brendon sat on one couch, Joe, Patrick, and Andy sat across from them
on another. Frank got the odd feeling of this being like a “meeting the parents
before taking their child out” scene, although it honestly couldn’t be more
different.
“Last night, I was walking around town, and...I- I saw this thing in the
alleyway. It killed that man, the one that was on the news? It-it completely
drained him of blood. I watched it happen. It tried to get me too…” Frank took
a deep breath, watching the changing expressions of the men in front of him.
Patrick looked the most worried, eyes wide with shock. Joe and Andy looked
concerned, but more confused than anything else.
“What do you mean ‘tried to’?” Andy asked, Frank’s shoulder twitching when he
spoke. Damn nerves.
“Well, It, uh, it was about to bite me, but it...sniffed me? And it threw me to
the ground, like I was toxic or something. Then it said something I didn’t
understand. Brendon said it might be Latin.” Frank watched the expressions on
the men’s faces again, Patrick looked even more worried now, and Joe and Andy
seemed to match his concern.
“Do you remember what it said?” Patrick asked, leaning forward on his elbows.
“Uh, yeah. ‘Venatorum est sanguis’. I have no idea what that means, but it said
it in a kind of hateful way, and kind of scared as well.” Patrick had gone pale
when Frank had said the Latin words, turning to Andy and Joe with shock and
fear in his eyes.
Brendon seemed annoyed by the silence, and reacted accordingly. “Do you know
what it means?” He asked Patrick, who nodded and spoke.
“Venatorum est sanguis. Hunter’s blood.” Frank must've looked beyond confused,
because Patrick began to explain further.
“Vampire hunter’s blood. Your family must’ve been hunters. What’s your last
name?”
“Iero.” Frank heard an audible gasp from Joe, and Andy seemed to flinch at the
name. Patrick set his jaw and nodded, explaining their reaction.
“The Ieros were some of the best hunters of their time. The last two remaining
members of the family died nine years ago. Nobody knew that you were alive, or
even existed Frank. How did you get out?”
Frank had absolutely no idea how to answer. He had just found out that his
parent were freaking vampire hunters for Christ’s sake. This was a lot to
process in such a short period of time.
“I-I have no fucking idea to be completely honest. I’m just actually mildly
losing my shit right now, as it’s not everyday that you find out that your dead
parents were vampire hunters the day after you watch a man-and almost you-get
murdered by one.” Patrick looked startled at Frank’s sudden outburst, but kept
cool when speaking again.
“I know it’s a lot to handle. I’m sorry that this was all dropped on you so
fast. But this may just be the slightest bit of a problem for you, involving
the vampires, I mean.” Frank didn’t know what to make of that. He just stayed
quiet and let Patrick explain more, Frank could tell he liked speaking about
this kind of stuff.
“And by that, I mean that you may get targeted by the vampire coven. We can
protect you of course, but I think you could maybe uphold you family legacy.”
Patrick got a sly look in his eyes, which worried Frank a little, but he didn’t
want to argue with a man who had bullets strapped to him casually.
“Can I do it too?” Brendon chimed in, Frank saw the almost childlike eagerness
in his eyes when he spoke.
Andy laughed and nodded, the mood of the room shifting to one more light-
hearted, and Frank felt almost comfortable in the house now.
“C’mon kids, let's show you some of your family history.” Andy said, looking at
Frank and Brendon. “And your weird interests.” He directed the last part at
Brendon, who rolled his eyes at him. The group followed him upstairs and into a
large room filled with strange artifacts and pictures, and Frank felt a little
overwhelmed by all of it.
“Quick history slash fact lesson: Vampires are everywhere in the world, except
Antarctica and the Arctic because it's too goddamn cold there. Most of them lay
low, but in some parts of Europe and Asia, they can be kind of big figures in
their countries. I’m not sure you would know that many, I don’t believe you're
big on keeping up with Asian and European pop culture. But there is-”
“Vladimir Putin!” A voice from the corner of the room said, startling everyone.
Frank even saw Patrick had gotten out a rather large knife, which furthered
Frank’s mental note not to mess with any of these guys, even if Patrick kind of
looked like a teddy bear.
The voice spoke up again, and a figure rose from the mess, hands up him
surrender. “Don’t shoot! I’m innocent!” The figure was grinning cheekily, and
Frank saw that he had a completely normal set of teeth. But his eyes were an
almost inhuman bright hazel, which gave away that he wasn’t the most human he
could be.
“Peter! What the hell are you doing here?” Patrick said, exasperation plain in
his voice. Peter chuckled and stepped into full view, hands still up. He was
wearing grey skinny jeans and a black shirt with the Joy Division logo on it.
Frank decided that he was tolerable.
“I’ve been here since last night really. Word got around about the murder and I
wanted to help. Ray doesn’t know I’m here.” His smile turned into a look of
worry. “Please don’t tell him I was here. He’ll make me go without dinner
again.” Frank had no idea what abusive relationship the poor guy was in, but he
knew it wasn’t good.
“You should maybe get out of that relationship if he’s being that controlling
of you. He doesn’t sound like a good partner.” All eyes turned to Frank, and
Peter laughed almost hysterically.
“Ray and I? Partners? Please, Ray’s as straight as the pole Joe’s mother dances
on.” Peter winked at Joe, who didn’t look amused in the slightest.
“I could shoot you, you know.” He deadpanned, Peter’s cocky smile returning. “I
dare you, Trohman.” Joe pulled a gun Frank didn’t even know he had out of his
belt, aiming it at Peter with a glare.
“Joe! Don’t shoot him, he’s not worth the bullets.” Patrick said, Joe lowering
his gun hesitantly. Patrick directed his attention to Peter.
“We won’t tell Ray you were here, but you need to stop breaking in. Oh, and you
can help us with something. New case.” Peter snorted at that.
“Case? What is this, some crime show? Am I the comic relief that gets all the
hotties?” Peter wiggled his eyebrows, and Frank was starting to grow more and
more annoyed with his cocky attitude.
“Shut up Pete. This is Frank. Frank Iero.” Patrick gestured to Frank, and
Pete’s light eyes grew at his name.
“Iero? Like, the Ieros?” Frank nodded, and Pete turned to Frank with new
interest.
“So, you don’t know anything about fighting vamps, right? Probably knew nothing
about your family before today, I can tell from the look in your eyes. What’s
the case here?” He turned back to Patrick with his last words, but Frank was
still surprised by how fast he caught on to the situation.
“He watched a vampire kill someone last night, almost got the same fate. But
the vamp backed off when it smelled his blood.” Patrick said, Pete raising his
eyebrows and turned to Frank.
“In all honesty they sound like a coward. what did they look like?” Pete asked,
and Frank tried to recall the details of the vampire.
“It was tall and lanky, but pretty strong for something that looked like it had
some kind of eating disorder. It had black hair and a jawline that could cut
diamonds if I’m being honest. That's all I really remember.” Pete had gone a
little pale when Frank mentioned the jawline, but his facial expression never
changed.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do to help. And Pat, thanks for not ratting me out.”
Pete smiled at Patrick, who just crossed his arms and eyed Pete pointedly.
“We’ll see about that. Just help us out and we’ll keep quiet.” He turned to
Frank and Brendon. “You two are gonna get some lovely education today. Hope
you’re ready.” Both Frank and Brendon nodded, and Patrick smiled at them.
“Good. Let’s get started.”
***** This Actually Gets Pretty Intense Towards The End Damn *****
“Okay so vampires are not, in fact, indestructible. They can be killed with a
silver bullet to the heart-iron works too-and sunlight. They also- ugh, what is
it Pete?” Patrick glared at Pete, who was raising his hand like he was in high
school, which was kind off odd because he looked like he was in his early
twenties to Frank.
“You forgot to mention that vampires have a very high pain tolerance. They’re
kind of like demons so they do feel pain, but it just feels like a poke when
they get shot or maimed or whatever.” Pete looked quite smug at that, while
Patrick looked a little more than annoyed at this.
“Pete, please let me teach the children. I know you’re a goody-two-shoes about
the subject but please shut the hell up.” Patrick said. Pete leaned back in his
chair and held his hands up in surrender.
“I’m not a child! I’m fourteen!” Brendon leaned forward in his chair and gave
Patrick an offended look.
Frank honestly didn’t know what was happening at this point; for some time they
had been learning a lot about vampires and the history of them, which was
actually really cool. But then Pete started interjecting his own little facts
which just got Patrick agitated, and Joe and Andy had started making bets about
how long it would take Patrick to lose it. Andy had bet fifteen dollars it
would take Patrick to lose it, and Joe had bet it would take ten minutes. So
far it seemed like Joe would win.
Patrick rubbed his temples and turned away from the makeshift classroom
situation they had set up, and Andy started reaching in his pockets for what
Frank assumed to be money. Pete leaned over and whispered to Frank:
“Patrick is annoyed with me. Pray for my life, because he has silver bullets
and if he gets agitated enough he will whip out his gun.” Pete winked at Frank
and clicked his tongue against his teeth.
“What does that mean?” Frank whispered back, for no reason really, because he
knew everyone could hear him and probably thought he was a jackass already.
“You could say that I’m a bit of a lunatic.” Pete said that at regular volume,
which made Patrick whip around with such fury in his eyes Frank was genuinely
scared.
“That.” Patrick said, pointing at Pete with the fire still raging in his eyes.
“Was possibly the worst thing you’ve ever said.” Frank noticed Joe and Andy
were laughing absolutely hysterically behind him, while Brendon looked just as
confused as he felt.
“Um...what does that mean?” Brendon asked Patrick, which just made Andy and Joe
laugh more. Patrick sighed and shook his head at Pete, throwing his hands up in
the air before turning to Brendon.
“Pete just made a joke about his…problem.” Patrick said while eyeing Pete, who
was still smirking like hell.
“The ‘problem’ Patrick is talking about it the fact that I’m a werewolf. Don’t
understand why it has to be such a big deal. I haven’t killed anyone, have I?”
He directed the last question at Patrick.
Frank was still trying to process the fact that Pete was a werewolf while
Patrick was looking at Pete in utter exasperation. A werewolf? Patrick had
briefly mentioned werewolves in his little lesson, saying that they hadn't
typically been enemies with vampires until the last century, when the
urbanization of the world let them move to places where they couldn’t be
recognized or detected. They had fought over territory, and the werewolves had
killed a very important vampire leader in a fight. Patrick said that they had
been at each other’s throat since. Frank understood now why Pete hung out with
the vampire hunters.
“-and you need to stop being so open about being a werewolf, someone from town
could find out and they can and will kill you.” Frank had only just noticed
Patrick was giving Pete a lecture, and Pete looked like was ready to take
Patrick’s gun and use the bullets on himself.
“Patrick. Patrick. Trick. Patrick!” Joe caught Patrick’s attention, the smaller
man turning towards him in a flurry.
“What?” He gritted his teeth as he spoke, yet still seemed hardly terrifying to
Frank.
“How about you cool down for a bit and I teach ‘the children’ the rest of this.
Okay?” Patrick started to protest, but took a deep breath and nodded. He went
down the stairs. Joe turned to Brendon, Frank and Pete and smiled.
“Let’s get educated.”
-
Joe was actually a pretty good teacher, he made it fun and didn’t go around
questions Brendon asked. Frank learned that vampires were quote unquote, “Hot
assholes who like to suck blood from people” which Frank thought was the
simplest explanation they could’ve received. Patrick had returned about twenty
minutes after, seen that Joe was handling everything pretty well, and then had
gone back downstairs. It had turned out he had made lunch for everyone, and
they had eaten sandwiches and then gone back to learning about vampires and
various other supernatural beings until it was almost dark.
Brendon and Frank has said goodbye and left the house, promising to come back
again tomorrow for some, ‘training’. Currently, they were walking down the long
driveway and talking about the events that had happened that day, Frank hardly
nervous about the impending nightfall.
“Dude, your parents were kick-ass vampire hunters. Thats cool as hell.” Brendon
said. His back was turned to the road and he was walking backwards in front of
Frank so he could still see him.
“Pretty cool for the fact that they’re dead.” It came out harsher than Frank
had intended, and Brendon looked a little shocked at his reaction.
“Sorry man. Didn’t mean to upset you.” Frank cringed a little when Brendon
apologized. He felt dumb and wanted to take back that moment and just say it so
he didn’t make it seem like he was bitter about it. But alas, time travel
wasn't real.
“It’s fine, I was just…” Frank trailed off as something in the woods caught his
eye.
There was a dark figure standing on the edge of the forest opposite the road
where Brendon and Frank were walking. It was tall and lanky, and it’s eyes were
the only thing that were distinguishable about it’s features. They were a light
brown that glowed ominously in the dark and sent a shiver up Frank’s spine.
“What is it? What....” Brendon asked, turning his head to where Frank was
looking. Frank saw his eyes widen, but kept his gaze on the figure to see if it
would move.
“Frank. We need to go. now. “ Brendon sounded scared, and his skin had paled as
he looked at the figure. Frank didn’t hesitate to nod, stepping away down the
sidewalk while he stared down the figure. Brendon followed him closely.
The figure turned to look at them as they backed up down the sidewalk and began
to follow them from a distance, Frank feeling his heart beat faster as the
figure started to get closer.
“Fuck this, we’re running. Go!” Brendon said, turning and shooting down the
sidewalk faster than Frank would’ve thought he could. Frank took one last look
at the figure, which was now almost parallel to him on the sidewalk, and
sprinted after Brendon as fast as he could. He couldn’t shake the feeling that
the thing was following them and kept running faster, feeling like his lungs
were going to burst as he reached the driveway of the home where Brendon was
already waiting.
“Get the fuck in the house now.” Brendon said with his eyes behind Frank. Frank
practically flew through the door and heard Brendon’s footsteps right behind
him as the door closed. It seemed like everyone in the house was in the living
room at the moment, and Jen and Alyssa were standing in the center of it all
with their arms crossed.
“Its after dark.” Jen started, Frank feeling his heart stop. He felt like a
puppy being scolded right now, even though Jen had hardly said anything. He
stayed still and silent as Jen continued talking.
‘Where were you all day? Did you get lunch? Why do you look like you just ran a
marathon?” Jen asked these questions to Brendon, who looked hardly as panicked
as Frank felt, in fact, he looked almost completely at ease.
“We walked around town for a bit and I showed him some places, then I took him
to a friends house to introduce him. We got food at the friend's house, and on
our way back we realized we were late, so we had a race to see who could get
here first. Frank won, but I think he’s very distressed about it.” Frank was
impressed by how easily the lies slipped of his tongue.
“Which friends?” Alyssa asked, eyebrows narrowed at Frank.
“Patrick and Joe and Andy.” Brendon said, which got a scoff from Alyssa and a
stern look from Jen.
“Brendon you know that they’re in their twenties, right? They could be
pedophiles for all you know.” Alyssa said. Frank snorted at that, which grabbed
the attention of Alyssa and Jen.
“Those men are quite straight, if I do say so myself. A gay man would never
wear what they were wearing, and I have some liability to that.” Frank had
never seen someone looked as shocked as Alyssa did when he said that, and he
could tell Jen was struggling to keep a straight face.
“Well okay then Frank.” Jen said, holding back a snicker. “But you two are
still in trouble for this. Go up to your room and wait until we call you down.”
Frank and Brendon nodded and turned to the stairs, Frank catching a vague
figure in the window, the same one that had been following them.
The light from inside the house was shining on its face now, but Frank still
couldn’t point out any key features about its face. But Frank could tell that
it was the same vampire who had attacked him the night previously. And it knew
where he lived now.
He ripped his attention from the window and ran up the stairs ahead of Brendon,
flinging himself into the room and climbing up the ladder to his bunk as fast
as he could. Brendon walked into the room moments later, giving Frank a
questioning look as he walked up to the bunk.
“What was that?” He asked, and Frank flinched and started biting his lip.
“It was outside the window, looking at me. It knows where we live, Brendon.”
Brendon’s expression changed to one of surprise.
“Shit.” He said, leaning up against the bed across from Frank and his. “It
can’t come into the house unless we invite it, so we’re safe for right now.
It’ll probably lurk around for a while and leave once it realizes it can’t get
to us.” Frank nodded, whispering an ‘okay’ before lying down in his bunk and
waiting to be called down by Jen and Alyssa.
-
The had called Frank and Brendon down after about half an hour, giving them a
lecture about keeping track of time and staying safe and all that stuff Frank
had heard countless times before, which meant he really only half-listened, as
he was worried about the vampire that had tried to kill him outside of the
house. Jen and Alyssa had given them dinner but had sent them off to bed
without and leisure time. Not that Frank minded that much, he would just sit in
the corner and try not to absolutely lose it, so it wasn’t much of a loss on
his part.
It was around midnight now, and Frank was the only person awake in the boy’s
room from what he could tell. He’d given up on listening to music, because he
couldn’t get it out of his head that the vampire, despite what both Joe and
Brendon had told him about vampires having to be invited in, would jump through
the window and kill him in his bed.
He had been staring up at the ceiling when he heard voices outside the house.
The window was open and the room was on the second floor, so the voices were
pretty hard to hear, but they were voices nonetheless.
“What are you doing here?” The first voice said, the sickening familiarity to
it leaving Frank almost paralyzed in his bed, hooked into the conversation.
“Ego servo oculum venatorum pariunt.” The second speaker said, the vampire.
The first speaker sighed before speaking again. “I don’t understand when you
talk like that. Say it in english.” Frank had developed some form of an idea of
who the familiar speaker was, but he needed proof to see if he was right.
“Fine.” The vampire had a slight accent to its voice, but it sounded human,
which was a little terrifying to Frank, because he had seen it literally murder
a man in cold blood, and Frank couldn’t picture someone who did that as a
human.
“I’m keeping an eye on the hunter’s spawn. My own accord, not Ashley’s orders.”
Frank wondered who Ashley was as the familiar voice spoke again.
“Why? What’s so important about him to you?” Frank’s theory about who it was
seemed like it was true at this point, but he kept listening.
“Because he’s the last member of one of the most successful vampire hunting
families of the past two centuries, Pete-” Pete. Frank was right, it was Pete
talking to the vampire outside. But why?
“Okay, but he just learned about this heritage and this vampire stuff today.
He’s hardly a threat to you guys right now. And if you try anything, I won’t
hesitate to tell Ray what’s happening.” Pete sounded more serious than Frank
had ever heard him, but it was still intimidating.
“Fine. But you can’t stop me from keeping an eye on him. And Ashley will find
out that he’s in Rosewood. And when that happens, there’s nothing I can do to
stop her from capturing him or killing him. I’m sorry Pete-” The way the
vampire said Pete threw Frank a bit off. It was too human for someone who had
tried to kill him. The vampire was too human in general. Frank was even more
scared of it because of that.
“It’s fine. But just try not to let Ashley know right now. Please. We need to-”
Pete stopped as though he had noticed something. “The window’s open. Someone
might be able to hear us.”
“Stercore.” The vampire spoke in a tone that meant that it could only be a
curse. “I need to go, Ashley doesn’t know I’m out. Goodbye Pete.”
“So long and goodnight, Fangs.” Pete said, and there was only a sound of two
people running in opposite directions.
Pete knew the vampire. Pete knew the vampire and seemed to be on friendly terms
with it. Frank was now even more scared for his life, because Pete knew the
vampire, and Joe, Andy and Patrick probably didn’t know he knew the vampire,
and Pete could be helping them and oh shit.
But he did seem like he was on opposing side of the vampire, and Pete seemed
like he was trying to protect Frank from the vampire, but Frank was still
terrified. He didn’t know if he would see Pete tomorrow, but if he did, he
would have to tell him the he had heard Pete and the vampire talking. But for
now, he needed to try his best at getting some sleep, because he had had an
interesting day, and needed to take a break from that.
And whether it was from exhaustion or fright, Frank fell asleep.
***** Wow Look Who The Vampire Is What A Surprise *****
“Yeah, like that. Now...strike!” Andy said. Frank swung his fist at the taller
man, almost nailing him in the stomach when Andy grabbed his fist and flipped
him over for the second time that day.
“Ow…” Frank mumbled, rubbing his wrist and glaring up at Andy from the ground.
“Gotta be faster, Frank. You’re holding back from using your full force. It’s
fine, you’re not gonna hurt me. Just go for it, I’ll be fine.” Andy pulled
Frank up and nearly dislocated his arm in the process. Frank stumbled backwards
but got back into fighting position.
“Let loose, Frank. I’ll be fine.” Andy said, and Frank swung his fist as hard
as he could. He managed to nail Andy in the cheek, which got a wince from the
older man, but he didn’t move his position.
Frank heard somebody walk into the ‘training room’ he and Andy were fighting
in, but didn’t pay much attention and just focused on dodging Andy’s blows and
getting in another hit.
Frank ducked as Andy swung at him, allowing Frank to nail him in the stomach;
hard. Andy doubled over and coughed, giving Frank a thumbs up as he tried not
to cough his lungs out.
“Nice...job. Shit...Frank, I think you broke my lungs…” Andy gave a weak laugh
at that, while Frank was staring at Andy with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” Frank asked, walking over to Andy to help him settle down into
the chair that was served as the only furniture in the room.
“Peachy. How about we take a break? Go see what Brendon and Patrick or whoever
else is with them are doing. I’ll catch up.” Andy waved his hand at Frank in a
shooing motion, Frank walking out of the room and down the stairs to the living
room, where Brendon, Patrick, and Joe were talking and eating breakfast, even
though it was one in the afternoon.
“Where’s Pete? I thought he was here?” Frank asked as he grabbed a plate and
piled some eggs and pancakes onto it. He sat beside Brendon and started
shoveling the eggs into his mouth. Training made him hungry.
“I saw him walk upstairs, I guess you didn’t see him standing right next to the
door.” A voice from the bottom of the stairs said, Frank seeing Pete standing
there leaning against the railing looking at Frank with a smirk on his face.
“I was a little distracted…” Frank said, shoveling some more eggs into his
mouth. Pete rolled his eyes and walked over, grabbing some bacon from the table
all the food was scattered on.
“Wow, whould’ve guessed.” He said before taking a bite out of the bacon.
“Leave me alone, aight? Gimme a break…” Frank could feel the edge in his voice,
too defensive and angry. He saw Brendon raise his eyebrows at him, but the
younger boy didn’t say anything and just kept eating.
“Whatever man.” Pete said. Frank stared down at his plate and sat in silence
with the rest of the group as they ate, Andy breaking the silence when he came
down from the ‘training room’.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Andy greeted the group, which barely got a reaction from
anyone.
“Well you all seem annoyed as hell. What happened? Who killed the party?” Frank
could feel eyes on him and he looked up at Andy sheepishly.
“Think it might’ve been me…” Frank said. Andy shook his head and rolled his
eyes, getting some food and sitting down.
Frank got up after a few minutes and said he was going to the bathroom, walking
down the hallway off the kitchen into a bathroom that was surprisingly small
for such a large house. Frank closed the door and looked at himself in the
mirror; he was sweaty and flushed, his eyes glossed over. He had slight half
moons under his eyes, probably from the minimal sleep he had been getting for
the past few days, and his hair was matted in the front of his little mohawk
thing he had going on. Frank was surprised at how different he looked from just
a few days in Rosewood, he seemed paler and even a little older than he had
when he had first arrived, which Frank had to believe was from the entire
ordeal of being attacked by a vampire, meeting vampire hunters and discovering
that his parents were vampire hunters, and being stalked by the same vampire
all within the course of three days. Probably wasn’t good for a kid who was
only sixteen.
He rubbed his eyes and tried to fix his hair, curling his fingers into a fist
to grip his hair and pull on it, something he did when he was stressed out. He
turned on the faucet and splashed some water onto his face, looking back into
the mirror.
He needed to talk to Pete about what he had heard last night. It wasn’t even
debatable to Frank at this point, but with how Pete seemed agitated today -
Frank could only assume it was because of the encounter with the vampire- he
wasn’t sure if he wanted to start anything to piss Pete off. He was a werewolf
after all, and Frank could barely land a punch on Andy.
It didn’t seem like Frank would have to confront Pete himself though, because
the bathroom door opened to reveal Pete with a determined look on his face.
“Okay you obviously know something. What is it?” Pete said, stepping into the
small bathroom and successfully cramping Frank against the wall.
“I-uh-um…” Frank took a breath before starting again. “Yes.”
Pete closed the door while still staring down Frank. “Frank, ‘yes’ isn't an
answer to ‘what is it’. Tell me what you know.” Frank swallowed and looked Pete
in the eyes, seeing the aggression behind them.
“I heard you talking to the vampire last night. I heard it all. How do you know
it? What the hell is going on?” Pete’s eyes widened, and he took a step back
from Frank, bumping into the door.
“I didn’t...I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said firmly, one hand
gripping the doorknob so tightly Frank was sure it was going to break.
“Pete, the thing said your name. Please just tell me what’s happening.” Pete
narrowed his eyebrows when Frank said ‘thing’ but he didn’t say anything. He
let go of the doorknob and walked right up to Frank, lowering his voice to a
murmur.
“I can’t talk to you here. I can’t risk anyone else hearing. Tonight I’m gonna
stop at your house and bring you to my place. It’ll be safe to talk there. It’s
not weird stop.” Frank smiled weakly and nodded, which seemed to satisfy Pete,
as he pulled away and walked out of the bathroom, Frank shortly following
after.
-
Frank had fallen into a half-asleep daze waiting for Pete, staring up at the
ceiling of his room listening to the other boys breathe and the wind blow. It
sounded kind of creepy when you actually thought of it, but Frank didn’t really
give a shit.
Frank felt himself slipping into sleep just as he heard something shift in the
room and that something coming up next to his ear.
“Wake the fuck up!” Pete said, jolting Frank out of the almost-sleep he was in.
He turned to Pete, who was looking over the railing of the bunk bed with only
his eyes visible. They seemed to glow in the dim light of the room, but with
the fact that he was a werewolf, Frank didn’t think much of it.
“Jesus Christ, you scared me.” Frank said, sitting up in his bunk and looking
down at Pete.
“Oh well. C’mon, we’ve gotta get going if you wanna be there for a majority of
the night.” Frank let out a soft groan and climbed down the ladder as quietly
as he could, following Pete through the window and down the same way he’d gone
his first night in Rosewood.
Pete gestured for Frank to follow him before he ran across the street to the
edge of the forest and stopped to look back at Frank. Frank ran across the road
and Pete, once he saw Frank was following, took off into the forest faster than
Frank could’ve imagined.
Frank sighed before running after him, not nearly as fast as Pete, because he
wasn’t a werewolf, nor was he very fast in general. He nearly tripped over a
rock as Pete rounded a corner about twenty feet ahead, Frank’s lungs already
feeling the burn from running.
Once Frank had caught up with Pete (after Pete had been waiting in a small
clearing for a few minutes) Pete turned back to him and flashed a cunning smile
that made Frank worry a bit for his safety.
“Ah, come on. I’m not gonna kill you or anything. The moon just kinda makes me
go a little nuts sometimes. Be prepared for that when we enter the cave.” Pete
knelt down and knocked on the grass, which emitted a startling clang that
sounded like metal. He stood up and walked over to stand next to Frank,
watching as a large patch of grass lifted up to reveal a hole in the ground lit
up by lanterns, a slope leading down into the pit.
Pete threw his hands out, gesturing to the entrance, indicating that Frank go
down into it. Frank eyed Pete for a moment, whose pupils had expanded slightly
in the time they’d been outside, before walking over to the entrance and
sliding down, stumbling to his feet as Pete slid down behind him.
Pete walked ahead, Frank running to catch up to him, not really noticing
anything around him until they came upon a room full of people talking and
sitting on couches. The walls were wood, beams across the ceiling supporting
the dirt roof, and the floors were just dirt, except for the large carpet in
the center of the room.
A few people turned to look at Pete and Frank as they walked in, but most payed
them no attention. That is, until a voice that was high pitched yet still
intimidating yelled from somewhere in the room Frank couldn’t see:
“Pete, who the hell is that?!” The room soon quieted as a man who had to be at
least a foot taller than Frank with curly hair down to his shoulders appeared,
stopping in front of Pete and successfully shutting down Frank’s ability to
speak out of fright.
“Well, I was prowling the streets searching for my next victim-” “Pete!” “Fine,
fine.” Pete said, rolling his eyes. “He’s Frank Iero, like, the Ieros. He’s
their kid everyone thought was dead.” The man’s eyes widened and he turned to
Frank, who hoped to whatever deity there may or may not be that he wasn’t going
to kill him, because Frank had already had enough attempted murders on him for
one week.
“Damn. How old are you, Frank?” Frank struggled for a moment to form words
before choking out: “Sixteen. I’m sixteen.” The man turned back to Pete to give
a look of shock, before turning to Frank again.
“Well, we need to talk. Pete, take him up to the clearing. I’ll be up in a
second.” The man left as Pete grabbed Frank’s arm and dragged him down a tunnel
just off the room, the echoes of their footsteps ringing in Frank’s ears. Pete
pulled him around a corner and up a dirt staircase that opened next to a tree
at the edge of a small clearing, which was surrounded by an odd glass-looking
wall, with lampposts in the corners. There was also a table and chairs set up,
and Frank wondered how nobody had found this yet if it was barely hidden in the
middle of the woods.
“Take a seat, and don’t worry, nobody can see us in here from the outside.”
Pete said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. Frank looked around, now
noticing a slight shimmer to the glass wall.
“How is that...what?” Frank addressed Pete, who only looked amused by the
question.
“There is a little more than fact to the world, Frank. Look at me, I’m
basically a work of fiction. Don’t question the magic.” Frank only blinked in
response before he heard the same man from before say:
“Sit down, Frank. We won’t bite.” Pete shook his head at that, which didn’t
help Frank emerging uneasiness about the situation. Despite that, Frank sat
down in one of the chairs, the man from before sitting at the head of the
table, followed by two girls that looked like they could kill him with a
glance.
“Right, formal introductions. I’m Ray, this is Lynn,” He pointed to the shorter
girl who looked to be about the same age as Frank. “And Lindsey.” The taller
girl nodded to Frank.
“Where’s Hayley? I thought she’d be here tonight.” Pete asked Ray, leaving
Frank to sit back and watch in awkward silence.
“She does have a life outside of the supernatural world, Pete. She’s not always
here.” Ray said, Pete grumbling to himself before Ray turned to Frank.
“So, Frank, tell us what’s happened to you over the past nine years when the
entire supernatural world thought you were dead. We’re not going to pressure
you, you don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.” Frank looked
around at the people at the table for a minute before going back to Ray.
“You know what happened to me? I was messed up once I was taken out of a
burning house with my parents dead, transferred from kid’s home to kid’s home
because I kept getting into fights, got transferred to this town a few days ago
and have already had two attempts on my life from the same fucking vampire, and
found out that my parents were goddamn vampire hunters. Not only that, but I’ve
also made acquaintances with a werewolf and am now in a werewolf camp in the
middle of the night surrounded by some Harry Potter barrier bullshit. So, if
you ask, I’ve had a freaking fantastic life.” Frank glared at Ray, feeling his
skin getting hot and relishing in the anger he’d just let out onto the table.
The table stayed silent for a long time, Ray just staring at Frank in shock,
speechless. That is, until Pete cleared his throat and said:
“I’ll be right back.” He got up from the table and walked off somewhere Frank
couldn't see. His movement seemed to bring life back to the table, and Ray
blinked a few times before he spoke.
“Frank, you seem like you’ve got a lot of pent-up anger in you. You also seem
very confused and frustrated about everything that's happened over the past few
days. Tell us some more about it, maybe we can help.”
Frank eyed Ray warily, still a bit fired up from his outburst, and not
particularly liking the therapist vibe he was getting from the table at the
moment.
“I don’t need a therapy session. I came here to find out why Pete was talking
to the vampire that tried to kill me like they were friends.” Frank knew he’d
said something wrong the second the words left his mouth, because the looks
Lindsey and Lynn gave Ray -who looked as though it was a regular occurrence
that Pete did something like that- gave away that it wasn’t the best thing Pete
was talking to vampires.
“Really? The vampire Pete is friends with tried to kill you? Twice?” Ray
sounded like he didn’t believe Frank in the slightest, which was annoying to
say the least.
“Don’t believe me? I watched it murder someone in cold blood right in front of
my eyes. Y’know that murder that was reported on the news yesterday? That was
it. Went after me next, but ran away because it smelled my blood or something
like that and got scared.” Ray’s mood shifted slightly after that, eyebrows
creasing with concern.
“It murdered the guy on the news?” He asked, Frank nodding in response. Ray
exchanged a glance with Lindsey before leaving the table, saying he was going
to talk to Pete.
That left Frank alone with Lindsey and Lynn, both of whom looked at him like he
was an absolute abomination to the Earth.
It was one of the most awkward times in Frank’s life, sitting there facing the
girls. They didn’t talk to him or to each other, which Frank saw as kind of
weird, but it’s not like he was dying to talk to them either, so there was no
loss there.
Ray returned with Pete after about ten or so minutes, Pete looking guilty and
Ray looking like an angry parent who’d just finished scolding his kid.
“Frank, Pete’s going to take you back home now. It was lovely meeting you, I
hope you come again on more friendlier terms.” Ray said, nudging Pete over to
Frank and leading Lynn and Lindsey back down the staircase to the den.
“What happened to you?” Frank asked, Pete only shaking his head and walking
past the barrier solemnly. Frank ran after him, looking around Pete’s shoulder
to look at his face, which had the emotion of a scolded puppy.
“Pete what-” Pete’s head snapped up suddenly, and he held up a finger to Frank,
silencing him.
“Wait here.” He said, straying off into the woods behind a tree, leaving Frank
on the path alone, which was great for Frank’s new fear of being attacked by a
bloodthirsty vampire in the night.
Frank could hear Pete talking, just barely, and another voice, the vampire from
the night before, from behind a tree in the woods.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Pete, really, I didn’t entirely know what I was
doing. Ashley had sent out a few guys for ‘hunting’ as she called it. I think
she may have been controlling me. You know I wouldn’t hurt a human, I’m not
like that.” The vampire sounded like it was begging, which was creeping Frank
out enough as it was, but the controlling part? He didn’t even know vampires
could control people, and now that he did he wondered, what if he had been
controlled by a vampire before? What if he’d gone out and hurt someone? He
couldn’t even remember, and he felt his heartbeat increasing at the thought of
it.
“Mikey-” Mikey. The vampire had a name. Not that it was a big surprise to
Frank, but he’d only seen the vampire as a monster, not as someone with a name,
hell, he’d been calling it and ‘it’ for the past few days. He pushed that into
the back of his mind and kept listening.
“Mikey I don’t know what Ashley is doing to you or the coven, but you need to
get her to stop. I can help if you want, I know Ray would try to be diplomatic
with her, but that wouldn’t work out well.”
“No Pete. She’s got too much support. And Pete? She knows about the boy now.
The Iero. Dallon said she grabbed me and read my mind or something, like she’d
gotten a tip-off from someone that I knew about something important. She knows
about him now, and she wants him dead.”
Frank felt his heart almost stop. The vampire knew bout him, and they wanted
him dead. Frank knew from his little knowledge of vampires that they were good
hunters and wouldn’t stop at anything to get what they wanted. Frank was
terrified, he’d only been in this town for a few days and he already had a band
of vampires he didn’t even know how large hunting him down. He debated running
back to the home, but he knew that if he went alone, he’d most likely be
killed.
 
“You need to tell him that he’s being hunted, and you need to tell the others.
I don’t want this kid caught up in the war Ashley seems to be starting. I need
to go now, I need to see if I can talk to Ashley. Goodbye.”
Frank heard the sound of someone running away, and Pete say in a small voice:
“Goodbye.” Pete emerged from the trees, looking at Frank like he knew he’d
heard the conversation.
“Yes, I know the vampire. His name is Mikey. We’re not going to talk about it
here, we’ve wasted enough time as it is. You’re being hunted right now by a
vampire coven of around forty vampires, and we’re not taking any chances of you
getting caught or killed. Follow me and hold onto my arm.” Frank didn’t have to
think twice, latching onto Pete’s arm as he led them through the woods and to
the home without a hitch. Although, Frank was hyper-aware of everything around
him, listening for footsteps or movement in the trees, and jumping every time
an owl or gust of wind made noise. Pete helped him climb up the drain pipe to
the window, nodding to Frank before sprinting back across the street and into
the woods.
Frank settled into his bed as quietly as he could, finding it hard to relax due
to the fact that he was basically on the vampires most wanted list and was
probably being stalked at this very moment. But, as he had been out a majority
of the night and had just realized that he was pretty exhausted, he fell
asleep, his last thought being one of fear.
***** This Got Very Sad And Dark I Apologize *****
Chapter Notes
     finally figured out how to paste italic/bold text into the chapter so
     thats a good thing!
The nightmares had only begun the night Pete took Frank to the werewolf camp.
Visions of vicious, bloodthirsty vampires tearing him to shreds, teeth stained
with blood. He'd wake up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat and
fresh tears on his face, heart pounding in his chest. Even the shadows on the
walls were beginning to frighten Frank, he was in a constant state of anxiety
about getting attacked by the 'coven' as Pete had called them. He was paranoid
about leaving the house to go to the vampire hunters, so much so that Brendon
had to lure him out of bed the past three days with a promise of extra food at
breakfast. It was hardly much, but Frank was practically hysterical every time
someone walked into the boy’s room.
Any bit of his brash personality had been pushed away by fear: he was
constantly wringing his hands and tugging his hair, jumping whenever a noise
was made in the middle of the night. You wouldn't have even been able to
recognize him if you'd known him before he came to Rosewood. He was a complete
hysterical mess.
The nightmare tonight had been the worst of them all; Frank was in his previous
home, the girl he'd stolen the iPod from standing in front of him silently,
chilling smile and completely black eyes that had tear-like tracks of blood
streaming from them. Frank had felt paralyzed as she walked forward, a single
thin finger pointed towards his face.
"Potes effugere, venatores pariunt. Nos venit ad te." Frank didn't recognize
the voice she spoke in, but it was female, serious and terrifying at the same
time. Frank couldn't move as she then opened her mouth, practically unhinging
her jaw to reveal a set of bloodstained teeth -all incisors- and launching
herself towards him.
Frank woke up with a hand over his mouth, and he almost screamed before he
realized it was Brendon sitting in his bunk on top of him.
"You were crying really loudly and then you started screaming so I had to shut
you up to make sure you didn't wake anyone else up." He sounded tired and Frank
felt bad for a second, the pang of guiltiness being replaced by fear within a
second.
"I'm gonna take my hand of your mouth, and if you scream, I'm gonna punch you
in the face, got it?" Frank nodded and Brendon slowly removed his hand. Frank
took a gulp of air and sat up to face Brendon.
"You've been having the these nightmares for three days. You haven't told
Patrick, Joe, Andy, or me, and Pete already seems to know what going on. I
don't even care if you don't tell me, but from all the shit that's happened
since you came here, I think it's something we're not eligible to mess with.
We're going to their house today and you're gonna freaking tell them what the
hell has been going on. Got it?"
Frank nodded again, too out of it to really form a comprehensible answer.
Brendon pulled a small bottle from his side and gave it to Frank. In the light
from the moon and the street lamps outside, Frank could make out the label on
the front: NyQuil.
"You're gonna go the fuck back to bed or so help me I will knock you out
myself. Goodnight." Brendon crawled out of Frank's bunk and into his own, soon
falling into a pattern of snores and breaths. Frank looked at the NyQuil before
taking a sip of it -no more than a shot- and placing it at the foot of his bed.
It only took a maximum of twenty minutes for him to feel drowsy again, so he
collapsed on the pillow and let himself fall asleep.
- 
“So you’re telling me that you’ve been having nightmares and getting messages
in your dreams for the past three nights? AndPete took you to the werewolf
camp?” Patrick snapped, Frank flinching in response. He’d just told Patrick,
Joe, and Andy about what had been happening for the past three nights, but
Patrick had interrupted him before he could tell them what the voice in his
dream the previous night had said.
“Yeah. And I got a message last night.” Frank’s voice was just above a whisper,
because Patrick’s temper seemed to be burning up, and Frank didn’t want to
cause the explosion.
Patrick heaved out a short sigh, and took a breath before asking: “Well, what
was it?”
“Potes effugere, venatores pariunt. Nos venit ad te. Then she tried to kill
me.” Patrick’s head whipped around at that, eyes wide set in a way that Frank
couldn’t tell if it was fear or anger.
“She? Was it a voice you recognized?” Patrick’s voice was tight, his teeth
gritting as he spoke. Frank opened his mouth to respond, but Patrick
interrupted him.
“No! Of course not! Because she said ‘you can’t escape, hunter’s spawn. We’re
coming for you’! That means that the vampires can get into your dreams now!
That’s just freaking great!” Patrick had stood up now and was pacing the space
behind the couch, Joe, Andy, and Frank watching him slowly lose his shit. He
tugged at his hair and let out an exasperated sigh, closing his eyes for a few
seconds. The room was quiet, the anticipation palpable among the four.
Patrick threw his hands down and stomped over to a side table barren of
anything on it. He glared at the table before kicking it across the room,
letting out a loud: “Motherfucker!”
Frank flinched at the table crashing against the wall, while Patrick stood
silent, fuming.
“Patrick. Go for a walk or something. You’re scaring the kid.” joe said.
Patrick shot a deathly glare at Joe before storming out, and Frank breathed a
sigh of relief as the door shut loudly.
Joe turned back to him.
“Sorry Frank. Patrick’s a bit worked up over this right now, he’ll calm down in
a bit.” He paused. “He’s right to be worked up now. If I’m thinking what he’s
thinking, the voice you hear in your dream was the coven’s leader, Ashley.”
Frank felt the room get darker and colder as Joe said Ashley's name, which
freaked him out more than he already was.
“Er, what’s her whole deal?” Frank’s voice squeaked towards the end of the
sentence, and he saw Andy smirk from his chair.
“Well,” Joe started. “From what knowledge we have from Pete -he apparently
likes to spy on the vampire ‘lair’ in his spare time- she came to power not all
that long ago. He said that she basically ‘slept her way to the top with murder
and not sex’. She’s also a pretty young vampire for well, a vampire. She’s like
sixty something years old? I don’t really know the specific details, but Pete
said that she's wicked powerful. She can control people by putting them in this
trance that Pete said was absolutely awful to watch, as well as she can read
minds, run super fast, and she’s also one of the very few vampires nowadays who
can shape-shift into an animal. That’s all we really have on her.” Frank didn’t
realize he was shaking until Andy put a hand on his shoulder. This girl sounded
terrifying, and she was after Frank. Fucking fantastic.
“Not to scare you more -okay this’ll scare you more- she also has a strong hate
for vampire hunters, and that’s probably the reason she’s going after you.”
Andy said, which made Joe look at him in a ‘come on dude the kid’s already
scared’ type of look.
Frank wished he could’ve reacted in the same way that Patrick had. He wished he
could’ve thrown something or cursed and screamed until Joe knocked him out. But
no, he could only think of how easy it would be for the vampire girl to kill
him. And also the fact that neither Joe nor Andy seemed to know about Pete’s
vampire friend who Frank knew was the one giving him the information. It seemed
for the best though, because they were vampire hunters, and Frank reckoned if
they knew Pete was ‘friends with the enemy’ they’d probably disown him from
their little vampire ass kicking group.
“Okay. Just to review; I’m being hunted by a very dangerous group of vampire,
they could probably kill me without any effort, I’m pretty much fucked right
now, and I don’t have anyone to walk me home because Brendon left to finish his
chores.” Frank said, Joe taking a moment to tick the things off in his hand
before nodding.
“Fantastic. Why don’t we just leave me in the woods for them to kill me now.
I’d be easier for all of us.” Frank said, slouching back in his seat and
sighing.
“We’re not doing that, Frank.” Andy said. “We’re gonna help you as much as we
can. What do you want us to do?” Frank looked at Andy for a moment, then at
Joe, then at the door, then back to Andy.
“What I’d really want is to be able to talk to my parents. They could probably
shed a little more light on the situation and maybe I kinda just want to meet
them. My only memory is of my mother making dinner one night and my father’s
ring. But that obviously can’t happen, because they’re dead.” Frank was just
ranting now, letting out as much emotion as he could before he began to feel
scared again. This whole ‘vampires are gonna kill me’ fear came and went, but
only for fleeting bursts. Frank took the moments where he wasn’t completely
terrified to try and get as much out as he could before falling back into his
constantly anxious mindset.
He saw Andy and Joe exchange a glance before Andy turned back to him and
started with a: “Well…”
“Well what?” Frank asked. This couldn’t be good.
“Well, Patrick might be a bit of a necromancer on the side from doing this, and
knows how to communicate with the dead. And maybe if you managed to come here
tomorrow he could, y’know, talk to them.” Frank only blinked in response.
“So you’re saying we have a seance? No way, absolutely not. I’ve seen the
fucking Insidious movies, that shit never goes right.” Frank couldn’t even
imagine what could happen if they tried to summon his parents. Probably get
members from the Italian mafia instead that were ready to kill him. He didn’t
want to take the chance.
“Frank, could you at least try? You said you wanted to see them. This could be
your only shot.” Joe said, which barely reassured Frank. He didn’t care if it
was his only shot -well, maybe he did a little- he’d had enough of horror movie
bullshit for an entire lifetime in under two weeks, he didn’t need anymore.
 “I know, but I’m telling you, it won’t go right.” Frank argued, sitting up
from his position on the couch now.
“Frank. We can at least try, alright? Patrick knows what he’s doing. What harm
could it do?” Joe said, and Frank thought, well, I could die, but didn’t say it
out loud.
After a few minutes of thought, Frank finally gave in. He’d come back tomorrow
ready to either die or see his parents for essential the first time he could
remember. And to say he was terrified was an understatement.
-
Joe had walked him home after Frank had lunch and another training session with
Andy, but the twist this time was that he was throwing knives at a target
instead of punches. Frank discovered he was awful at aiming, but he had a
decent throw, which Andy said was perfect when your enemy was condensed into a
pack, but it didn’t help much when there was a one-on-one. That really boosted
Frank’s self esteem.
He’d thanked Joe before he walked into the home, surprised by how quiet it was.
It was only two, nobody could be asleep at this time, could they? As Frank
walked into the living room, he realized that there was noise coming from the
kitchen, so he headed there to see what was going on.
He was greeted with the faded blue color of Alyssa’s hair. She had her back
turned to him and she looked to be washing the dishes. Frank cleared his throat
to get her attention, which nearly made her drop the plate she was holding, and
she turned to face him.
“Welcome back. You missed chores.” She put the plate down and leaned against
the sink, crossing her arms. Frank noticed she was wearing one of Jen’s shirts,
a simple black muscle top with a moon on the front.
“Sorry, I was, uh, out.” Alyssa was staring at him like he’d just admitted he
was a serial killer, which made this entire uncomfortable encounter all the
more uncomfortable.
“Tell, me Frank, where were you ‘out’?” Frank couldn’t believe the power of the
stare she had. It was like her eyes were drilling into him and pulling out all
his thoughts. And the question she asked wasn’t making the situation better for
Frank.
“In town, just...walking around…” Alyssa made a noise somewhere between a laugh
and a scoff, pushing herself off the counter.
“I’m not stupid Frank. You were with the hunters, weren’t you?” Frank was so
surprised by the question all he could do was stare at her until he realized he
had to respond.
“How do you...what? Did Brendon-” She cut him off before he could finish.
“No, Bren doesn’t even know I know about all this stuff. I’ve lived in this
town my entire life, it’d be hard not to notice all the crap that happens. I
also had a bit of a first hand encounter with all this stuff, seeing as my
parents were in the same line of work as yours.” Frank had been caught
completely off guard by this whole conversation, but when Alyssa mentioned his
parents, he was absolutely thrown for a loop.
“You know about my parents?” He hated how his voice got a bit choked up at the
end, but he was incredibly emotional right now and couldn’t really help it. He
saw a look of sympathy cross her face when he choked, and she continued with a
softer voice.
“My parents always talked about yours. It was amazing what they did really, in
their line of work. I was fifteen when my parents told me what happened to
them. They never mentioned a son, it seemed like nobody knew about you until
you showed up here. I recognized your last name when we got your papers, but I
didn’t believe you were actually Linda and Frank’s kid until I saw you. You
look a lot like your dad from the pictures my parents showed me.” She paused
for a second before giving Frank a soft smile.
“Sorry if I came off as rude or harsh, I was a bit skeptical about you coming
here of all places. Great for a vampire hunter’s kid, a town with vampires. I
kind of didn’t want you here because I knew it wouldn’t end well. And from the
looks of you, I’ve made an assumption I’m right. Tell me what’s happened since
you got here, don't leave any details out. Lay it on me.” Frank just stared at
her for another minute before he regained his composure, and he began talking.
He told her about the first night with the murder and the attempted murder on
him, then about how he met Patrick, Joe, Andy, and Pete, then the vampire
outside the window and how he was talking to Pete, then about how Pete took him
to the werewolf camp and told him about the coven. He then told the story about
how he’d been having gruesome nightmares for the past three nights, even
telling her what the voice in his dream had said. He finished with what had
happened today, ending it with the fact that he’d been sucked into attempting
to talk to his parents tomorrow.
Once he finished, he waited for Alyssa to respond. It took a while, but she
finally let out a heavy sigh and looked at Frank with pity in her eyes.
“I’m sorry Frank. I want to help, I really do, but I can’t do that and run the
home. But i can promise you this: if something happens to you where you
disappear, I can keep the cops away for at least a week. If you die, it’ll be a
murder. If something worse than that happens, you’re dead. That’s as much as I
can do. I’ll tell Jen about this, she’ll understand. Patrick and the guys will
keep you alive.” Frank just nodded again, because Alyssa was basically telling
him he was probably going to get hurt at some point, or maybe even die, and
that she’d make sure that there would be no trace back to anyone involved. That
meant Patrick, Joe, Andy, and most likely Pete wouldn’t get questioned for
anything, which made Frank feel just a tiny bit better. But she had also
mentioned something worse than death, which was something Frank couldn’t think
of right now, not to mention imagine. He didn’t want to think of all this right
now, because he was tired and stressed and wanted to cry because of everything
happening to him right now.
Alyssa said just one more thing to Frank:
“Everyone went out to the park with Jen. They’ll be back around four or five.
You should get some rest, you obviously need it.” Frank nodded again -God, he
felt like a bobblehead with all the nodding he was doing- and walked upstairs
to his room, climbed into his bunk, and passed out without a thought about
vampires.
***** "Fuck" Is The Only Way To Summarize This Chapter *****
Chapter Notes
     sorry for the long ass hiatus school started and i have been very
     stressed but here it is! my precious child please enjoy it thanks
Frank woke up with anxiety. It was almost routine now, he had been waking up
with anxiety the past three days. But it was more than just “vampires are
trying to kill me”, it was the - what should he call it? A seance? The only
experience he’d had with seances were the ones in horror movies, and those were
often the ones where somebody got possessed and killed five children.
So yeah, Frank had anxiety.
And today was the perfect juxtaposition- outside it was sunny and bright out,
possibly the first fully sunny day Frank had seen since moving to Rosewood.
Meanwhile, Frank was in a particularly gloomy mood about the day, and the
sunshine just made him feel even more anxious (somehow).
He sat up and looked across the room to where Brendon normally slept, but the
bunk was empty, the sheets messy and twisted. Frank glanced around the rest of
the room; nobody else was with him. They must’ve had breakfast already, or were
having it right now. Frank scrambled towards the ladder of his bunk and climbed
down, sprinting down the stairs to the living room.
The kids were sitting on the floor in a circle, eyes glued to the TV. Alyssa
and Jen were watching from behind the couch; Alyssa’s expression was hard,
while Jen looked like she was about to cry. Frank look a moment to listen to
the news:
“ -the message was found at about six forty-five this morning by Elise Kendall
on her daily walk. Katherine is with Elise at the scene. Katherine. ”
The camera switched to a young woman with curled black hair, her eyes done up
with tons of mascara and eyeliner. She held a channel 5 microphone with both
hands tight, like it would be taken from her if she didn’t hold onto it. Her
dress was a sunny yellow color that almost hurt Frank’s eyes it was so bright.
The look on her face was solemn, until she nodded her head and began to speak.
“ Thank you Dave. I’m here with Elise Kendall, the woman who discovered the
chilling message on her walking route this morning. ”
The camera panned over slightly to reveal an older woman with silver hair, her
face white, as if she had just seen a ghost. Katherine tilted the microphone
towards her, and she began to speak.
“ Well, I was just on my morning walk, my regular route, nothing was different.
When I started to notice this rancid smell that I just couldn’t shake. As I
kept walking, the smell got worse, and when I turned the corner, there it was.
This awful  message and an odd sense of cold, shocking for a day like today. ”
She stuttered her words out, hugging her body as though she was still cold,
despite the day having to be no less than seventy degrees.
Katherine took the microphone back and faced the camera, explaining further.
“ This message -which we’ll pull up on the screen now- ” An image popped up on
screen, and the kids leaned in close to the TV to see what it said. Frank
looked, his heart seizing up in his chest when he read it.
There were four deer carcasses, their stomachs presumably torn open (Frank
couldn’t really tell, the news has censored it out) and what looked like
writing in blood scrawled on the pavement.
It read: “ Watch out; we’re coming. ” Although it could’ve been perfectly
reasonable for Frank to not think that this possibly deer-blood scribed message
was about him, it was hard to think it wasn’t.
He caught Alyssa’s glance out of the corner of his eye, and she was staring at
him, her expression stony. Frank ignored her for the time being, focusing more
on how much he didn’t want to go to the seance now. First, being chased by a
vampire back to where he lives for the time being. Now, he gets dead deers and
a message in blood. Maybe the vampires will just show up at his door next, grab
by the throat him and leave him dead on the doorstep. That would just be
fantastic.
The TV suddenly turned off, eliciting a series of annoyed groans from the kids
sat in front of it. Jen held the remote in her hand, face white and stern.
“You guys have chores to do. The list is in the kitchen.” The kids let out a
sigh of exasperation, and begrudgingly went into the kitchen. Frank started
after them, but Jen called for him, her voice breaking when she said his name.
Frank turned around, and saw that Jen was crying, which shocked him. She wasn’t
a person to cry, from what he knew.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” He asked, and Jen wiped her tears.
“Alyssa told me last night what was happening, and after seeing that...oh God
Frank I’m so sorry.” She pulled Frank into a ferocious hug that startled him.
He couldn’t remember the last time he was hugged by an adult. He was barely
hugged in his last home. The kids just didn’t care about him. But here, in
Rosewood, they cared. It might be because of how he’s got a vampire bounty on
his back, but it was affection, and now  he  was tearing up.
“You - you don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault.” Frank felt a tear fall
down his cheek, and he saw Alyssa standing behind Jen. She was smiling sadly,
her arms crossed.
Jen let go of him, and Frank longed for her to hug him again. He wiped his
tears quickly, and lifted his head up high. It was Alyssa who spoke this time.
“I know you’re not sure about the er-,” She cast a side-eyed glance at Jen. “
thing .” Frank knew she must mean the seance. “Yeah…” He said.
“So, here’s this. For protection.” She handed him something silver on a chain-
a necklace. Upon further inspection it appeared to be a mini Jesus nailed to a
cross on a chain. A crucifix.
“Pure silver. Wards off vampires. And it’s a cross, so they’ll wanna stay away
from you because of that too.” She said. Frank put on the piece of metal and
let it fall against his chest. His heart swelled with gratitude, and he looked
at Jen and Alyssa with a genuine smile.
“Thank you.” He said. Jen smiled at him and wiped her eyes. “You need to eat
before you go, I’ll make you something now.” She started to walk away, but came
back to give Frank a quick hug. Then she hurried into the kitchen.
“Frank,” Alyssa started. “Do you want me to come with you?” Frank took the idea
into consideration.
“No, I think I need to do this myself. But thank you for the offer.” He
decided. Alyssa looked disappointed, but she just nodded.
“Okay, but if anything happens to you, I will personally send Patrick to Hell.”
She said, and Frank smiled at her threat.
-
By the time Frank was on his way to the hunter’s house, Jen had forced three
sandwiches into him, hugged him at least twenty times, and gotten her tears on
him every time she did. Frank didn’t mind though, he liked the attention. It
made him feel warm, which was new for him. He always felt cold and closed off
from the world, but this morning he felt encouraged and even ready to go to the
hunter’s house. But that feeling began to fade as he approached the long dirt
driveway leading to the house.
The walk down the driveway felt like stepping into a new world. The trees
seemed to close him in and make everything darker, the sinking feeling in his
chest from when he woke up returning. He told himself it was all in his head,
but when he knocked on the door, he was almost sure that something was about to
go very wrong.
It was Joe who answered the door, welcoming Frank and calling out to alert Andy
and Patrick. Patrick marched down the stairs looking to be in a good mood.
“G’morning Frank. Andy told me about the idea for the seance. You up for it?”
He asked. Frank nodded.
“Good, we’ll get started right now. Joe, go get the emergency seance candles
from the car. Frank, help me close the curtains and set up the table.”
-
Frank had to admit it, he did not know how much effort was put into setting up
a seance. All the curtains and doors had to be closed, so they were in complete
isolation. That freaked him out a bit, he didn’t like the idea of being
completely locked in.
They also had to have a certain amount of candles on the table, which Patrick
told him had to be divisible by three. The table must also be circular, with
some food at the center of it to attract the spirits. Patrick had Andy make
some soup to put at the center of the table. Once they had finished, they all
sat around the table, the room completely dark aside from the candlelight.
Patrick began to explain what was going to happen.
“Okay, when we start, we’ll all join hands and then say “Our Beloved Frank and
Linda, we bring you gifts from life into death. Commune with us, Frank and
Linda, and move among us.” We say that as many times as it takes to get a
response. We start with simple yes and no questions, and if they decided to
communicate through me, then we ask the heavier questions. Anything goes wrong,
we break the circle and open the curtains. Understand?”
Nobody spoke, and Patrick raised his hands to start the circle, but a voice
spoke from behind Frank.
“Yeah, why wasn’t I invited?” Patrick seemed to have an aneurysm at the
question, while Frank tensed and felt on the verge of a panic attack. He heard
the sound of someone walking, and a smiling face appeared next to Patrick’s in
the candlelight. It was Pete.
Patrick looked at Pete, startled and possibly very angry.
“Jesus, how did you even get  in  here?” Patrick snapped at Pete. Pete just let
out a soft chuckle and replied, “Oh I’m nothing holy, I don’t deserve that
recognition. But, you do leave your kitchen window unlocked. Maybe you should
check that next time.”
Patrick glared at him with fury for a few seconds, before telling Pete to sit
down, his words clipped with anger. Despite the scare Pete gave him, Frank was
grateful for him being here. He was a bit of a comic relief to the situation.
Once Pete had sat down, Patrick raised his hands, Andy and Pete grabbing them.
Pete took Frank’s left hand with his other, and Joe took his right. Patrick
checked that all of them were holding hands, and then began to lead the chant.
“ Our beloved Frank and Linda, we bring you gifts from life into death. Commune
with us, Frank and Linda, and move among us. ”
Frank spoke quietly and stuttered over his words, his anxiety rising by the
second. He squeezed Pete’s hand, and Pete looked at him with a smile, squeezing
back with reassurance. The group waited in silence, tension in the air. After a
minute of nothing, Patrick led them in the chant again, and they waited once
more.
Suddenly, the flame on the candles moved, and there were three sharp knocks
that seemed to come from the table.
It was Patrick who spoke. “Frank and Linda, are you here? Knock once for yes,
twice for no.” Frank felt himself sweating with anticipation. There was a
single knock, and Frank felt his chest become tense, his breathing stopped.
Patrick looked to Frank. “Frank, do you want to ask them anything?” Frank
stared at Patrick and shook his head. He wasn’t ready yet. Patrick nodded.
He asked other questions, “Do you remember your son? Once for yes, twice for
no.” There was another single knock. Frank felt on the verge of tears. He felt
the presence of his parents in the room, he felt as if they were standing right
behind him.
“He’s very scared, and he’s in trouble. Can you offer any advice? Once for yes,
twice for no.” The room was silent for a moment, before another single knock
ruptured it.
Patrick looked at Frank again, “I’ll tell them they can talk through me, ask
them what you like, okay?” Frank nodded slowly, afraid to speak.
“Frank or Linda, would you like to speak to your son through me? Once yes,
twice no.”
There was a single knock heard again, and Patrick nodded. “You are free to
enter me.” Suddenly he went rigid, his eyes rolling back into his head. He
turned towards Frank, all expression gone from his face.
Patrick opened his mouth and spoke with a surprisingly feminine voice.
“ Oh Frank, you’ve grown so much. I wish I was there to see it. ”
Frank felt his heart drop in his chest. Those were the first words that his
mother said to him in nine years, and they were through a man in his mid-to-
late twenties who had mediocre anger management. So naturally, Frank began to
tear up.
“Mom?” Frank sounded like a child, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t heard his
mother’s voice in almost a decade, he barely remembered it, and he had a right
to sound like a child after what he’s been through.
“ Yes Frank, oh how we’ve missed you. I’m so sorry for leaving you and for the
mess you’re in. I want to show you something, if you’ll let me. ”
Frank nodded. “Yes, of course, what is it?”
Frank suddenly felt himself leave his body, but he could still feel Pete and
Joe’s hands in his own, just barely. He was standing in a room that he
remembered only vaguely. It was his old house, he was standing in the living
room. In front of him was his mother, smiling warmly.
“ Come here, Frank. Do you remember this place? ” She asked.
Frank nodded. “Yes, what is it that you want to show me?”
His mother’s expression suddenly changed into a twisted smile, and she started
walking towards Frank slowly.
“ You fool ,” her voice changed as well, it sounded like a hundred voices at
once, and the sound of nails on a chalkboard. “ You’re so vulnerable. Just a
few words from your dead mommy and you’re like putty in my hands. ”
Frank tired to speak, but it felt as if his mouth were sewn shut.
“ You won’t be able to run away from what isn’t real, hunter’s spawn, but I can
ruin you in seconds if you try to scream. So just keep your eyes open and
listen carefully. ” She said. As soon as she finished, her face began to sizzle
and burn, revealing the tendons and bone underneath. Frank tried to look away,
but he was frozen in place, he couldn’t even scream. He watched his mother’s
body burn away until she was just a skeleton with smoking flesh hanging off
some of the bones. Frank felt sick to his stomach.
“ You will not succeed in hiding. We will find you, Frank Iero, and we will
destroy  you. ” The corpse that once resembled Frank’s mother thrust out her
arm at him, and he felt something squeeze his left hand before he lost
consciousness.
-
Frank felt himself come to at least half a dozen times, picking up on various
bits of conversation before passing out again. He heard a feminine voice
arguing with someone who sounded like Patrick, and another time heard someone
chanting in another language Frank didn’t recognize.
He was up permanently by the seventh time, staring at the ceiling of what he
took to be the living room of the hunter’s house.
“It’s been five hours Patrick, do you think he’s…?” Frank recognized the voice
of Pete in his groggy state.
“He’ll be fine, Pete. He’s waking up now.” A feminine voice said, and Frank
heard someone walking over to him.
A face appeared above his head, a girl with bright orange hair tied up into two
buns. She looked older than Frank, but younger than the hunters - probably
early twenties.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” She asked softly, as if she were talking to a baby.
“Uh, tired. And…” He trailed off, thinking for a moment about what had
happened. “What the fuck just happened?”
The girl laughed and shook her head, gesturing to him.
“Sit up, I’ll explain it.”
-
“And so, we’ve come to the conclusion that you were talking to neither of your
parents at all, and you were actually talking to the vampire leader, Ashley.”
Hayley finished, awaiting Frank’s response.
Frank sat there for a second, contemplating.
“Jesus, how did she even do that?”
Hayley sighed in exasperation, and Frank was startled. Had he said something
that annoyed her?
“Well, these geniuses performed an incredibly dangerous seance with you, I
honestly expected more from them…”
“Listen, I’ve been doing this shit longer than you have, so if you think you’re
better than I am-” Patrick rose from his seat, face red and his fists clenched.
Hayley whipped her head around to face the angry hunter. “I’m not saying I’m
better than you, I was saying you made some dangerous mistakes that could’ve
gotten Frank killed. Understand?” Her voice seemed to silence all noise in the
room, and Frank didn’t think that was just him.
Patrick sat down without another word, obviously still fuming silently. Hayley
turned back to Frank and continued her speech.
“They also fed you some misinformation. Ashley isn’t a young vampire, she’s six
hundred years old. And she can do things I’ve never seen a vampire do.” Frank
felt himself slipping into a panic again.
“What do we do?” He asked, sounding like a scared child, which honestly wasn’t
that far off from what he was.
Hayley puffed out her chest a little and began to stand up as she spoke.
“You’ll be staying here tonight, you can’t go home after something like that.
I’ll be staying too.” She turned to the hunters and Pete, who had been staring
Frank down for the entire time he had been conscious. “Is that okay?”
Everyone nodded (well, Patrick did after a nudge from Joe). Hayley seemed
satisfied with that, and sent Joe off to tell Jen and Alyssa what had happened.
Frank took notice to how similar Hayley and Patrick were. They were both
leaders, and held themselves in a such a similar way that they could’ve been
siblings, or sworn enemies. They seemed to be leaning towards the latter.
But Frank couldn’t bother himself with that too much, he had other things to
worry about. Like how he was almost killed and slightly scarred for life by a
six hundred-year-old vampire, or how he would most likely have to deal with
Hayley and Patrick bickering for as long as he was at the hunters, because they
had already started up again.
He took a deep breath and looked to Pete, who was still staring at him. He
remembered how smoothly Pete had slipped into the house without anyone
noticing, and for a horrid second Frank thought that Pete could be a spy for
the vampires, but he pushed it aside. Pete was a werewolf. Vampires didn’t like
werewolves. Pete wasn’t going to kill him.
But that anxiety still hung in the back of his head.
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